Chapter 391: A Tough Nut to Crack, Not to Be Provoked (Part 1)

Those Chuang army starving soldiers scrambled and crawled back in retreat, and very soon the north bank of the Jinshui River was completely cleared,

not a single standing figure in sight.

These starving soldiers had no military training; they fought purely on a surge of hot blood — when the blood was up they were fierce as wolves and tigers, but once the blood

receded they scattered in a single breath. They could not compare with the Shunxiang Army, nor even with ordinary government troops. However,

Gao Xun knew the Chuang army still had moves in reserve — it could not be just this one wave of attack.

Sure enough, after those starving soldiers' figures dispersed, the north bank of the Jinshui River revealed dense, tightly packed rows of shields.

Gao Xun's face darkened. He lowered the hand holding his telescope and shouted, "Matchlock soldiers, lower your face masks."

"Lower face masks."

The officers bellowed the order, and amid a metallic rustling sound, one by one the Shunxiang Army matchlockmen

lowered the iron face masks attached to their eight-petaled iron-tipped helmets. Instantly the scene behind the rampart wall transformed, revealing

a great host of ox-headed and horse-faced demons.

Those masks, every one of them, were like evil ghosts. If seen at night, they would surely give one a fright.

"Take cover."

Not only the soldiers under Gao Xun's command, but also the troops of that vanguard battalion, all crouched well behind the crenellations.

They lacked the Shunxiang Army's superior equipment — many did not even have iron helmets, let alone

iron face masks to protect their faces — and could only try their best to shrink their bodies behind the earthen wall.

Everyone could see clearly now: on the north bank of the Jinshui River, behind those Chuang army shield-bearers, densely

packed were soldiers holding fire-arrow tubes. It seemed they too were about to attack using fire arrows. It appeared

the fire arrows they held outnumbered those of the government troops behind the rampart wall by several times. Perhaps every department and

county in Henan Prefecture had had their fire-arrow stockpiles emptied by them.

Heaven and earth seemed to fall silent for a moment. Then, like rolling thunderclaps across the sky, the north bank of the Jinshui River erupted with

billow after billow of dense smoke, as if a sky-covering rain of arrows surged from behind those Chuang army shield-bearers,

sweeping forward.

The arrows flew straight, or arced diagonally, or plunged down from the sky, instantly blanketing the entire area of the rampart

wall.

At once, on the earthen wall and on the ground inside the horse-blocking wall, fire arrows were thickly embedded like the quills of a hedgehog.

The arrows were gone.

Wave after wave of howling arrows also shot into the city wall of the North Gate Pass, or flew into the city itself.

The brick-and-stone battlements and the timber-structured city towers resounded with thud after thud, skewered by arrow

after arrow.

The defenders on the city wall either pressed tightly behind the crenellations or raised their shields, sheltering from these wave upon wave

of arrow storms.

Wang Dou also ducked behind a crenellation, watching as puff after puff of light smoke burst from the embrasure beside him, and several dozen fire arrows shot in

in rapid succession.

Judging by the number of arrows, this single volley of fire arrows from the Chuang army likely amounted to over ten thousand

shafts.

Fortunately they were defending a city, with the walls for cover. If they were in the open field, with arrows this dense,

many would have been turned into hedgehogs.

Just as the thunderous roar of the fire arrows subsided, the drumbeats on the Chuang army's side thundered out again — dong dong dong. Then a great shout

rose from that side, and beside the Chuang army's fire-arrow troops, wave after dark wave of starving soldiers carrying earth-filled sacks surged forward

once more.

In an instant, several stretches of the Jinshui River were again submerged by those starving soldiers wrapped in red headscarves.

"Fire arrows, loose!"

Amid the thunderous roar, the government troops on this side also loosed their fire arrows. Under the howling rain of arrows, the Chuang army soldiers

charging onto the south bank collapsed in swathes once again.

Those remaining, their faces flushed crimson, bellowed wildly and charged forward with reckless abandon.

Very quickly, wave after dark wave of the human tide surged to within a few dozen paces of the rampart wall.

"Matchlockmen, prepare!"

"Prepare!"

Yang Shiqi, the First Company Commander of Gao Xun's First Battalion, also bellowed the order. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, at the

Jiukouzi stockade in Xingtang County, he had pledged his service to Gao Xun. Now he had become a company commander in the new Shunxiang Army. The man who once snatched

the rice gruel from his own wife and daughter to drink now owned one hundred mu of land in the Eastern Circuit and a large residence. His wife

and children all lived good lives.

With such a stark contrast in life — the heaven of the Eastern Circuit versus the hellish existence outside — Yang Shiqi, like the other

officers, was a fervent supporter of the Wang Dou faction. There seemed to be a phenomenon: the later

one joined the Wang Dou faction, the more zealous and loyal one became, striving by every possible means to demonstrate one's

loyalty before Wang Dou.

Like the wives of other officers, Yang Shiqi's wife also followed daily behind the titled lady,

Wang Dou's principal wife, Xie Xiuniang, who was known throughout the Eastern Circuit as the "Compassionate Mother." This great host of officers' wives

daily provided relief to disaster victims and comforted orphans and widows, and their renown was exceedingly high.

Yang Shiqi’s squad was a matchlock unit, guarding a section of the earthen wall’s crenellations. At his shouted order,

the matchlock soldiers under his command all steadied their guns more carefully atop the embrasures, concentrating intently on aiming at the charging

bandits.

Chen Sheng flexed his index finger slightly, stiffened numb by the cold. The weather was truly freezing. Although he wore warm

woolen gloves, each finger inside the gloves was still frozen cold and rigid.

In the twelfth year of Chongzhen, when Wang Dou attacked Zhuozhou, Chen Sheng, who had been captured by Qing troops, was rescued. During his days in captivity,

he had suffered every misery. Coupled with the deaths of his father and younger brother, Chen Sheng bore a blood-deep

hatred for the Tatars. At the time Wang Dou assaulted Yuetuo’s camp, Chen Sheng had even volunteered to join the ditch-filling daredevil squads.

Shortly after following the Shunxiang Army into Bao’anzhou, Chen Sheng brought his family — one wife, one concubine, two sons,

and one daughter — over from Anqing. For the time being, he ran some small trade. After the Eastern Route’s grand land reclamation, he and his family were settled

in a garrison farmstead in Huailai.

When the Shunxiang Army recruited new soldiers, because he was proficient with firearms, decent at hand-to-hand combat, and had the experience of filling

ditches at Zhuozhou, he smoothly became a member of the Shunxiang Army. Chen Xu, who enlisted at the same time, entered the

Logistics Division. Although Chen Xu’s daughter, Chen Suniang, had married Wu Zhengchun, a Company Commander of the New Army, Chen Xu still had to start

from the rank of a common soldier.

According to Wang Dou’s regulations, these new army soldiers could retire after five years. Upon retirement, they would receive Eastern Route military household

registration, be allotted fifty mu of cultivated land, along with draft oxen and farming tools. The armor and weapons they used in daily combat would also be passed down

within their families to own.

Unlike some new army soldiers, Chen Sheng did not plan to retire then. He intended to serve professionally, striving

to become a leading officer in the Shunxiang Army, so that he could kill every last Tatar and avenge his family.

After all, after five years of military service, he could become a military household and be allocated land. Fifty mu of land would allow his

family to live in peace and security, with no worries about the future. Not to mention the rewards for killing enemies

during daily combat, which made his family’s life even more comfortable.

What greatly interested Chen Sheng was that the State-Founding General intended to implement a new system in the Eastern Route, namely

using land to reward military merit. The silver rewards for killing enemies could be converted into corresponding land credits. Every

five years, these would be allocated, granting the corresponding land as reward.

Although these lands could only be beyond the frontier — the fields within the Eastern Route’s territory could not be granted as rewards — it still

aroused widespread interest among the officers and soldiers of the Shunxiang Army. Some veterans who had fought for many years had acquired so much

gold and silver that they had long lost interest in them, but land was a different matter.

The land of each military household in the Eastern Route could not be bought or sold; it had to be passed down through the generations. Transferring or trading it

was a major crime. Moreover, if anyone had a sudden urgent need for money, they could apply for official loan assistance. The money houses

established within the Shunxiang Army were very willing to help, so military households had no need to sell off their land.

Yet the Chinese people’s desire for land is limitless; everyone wants to own more fields. Therefore,

Wang Dou opportunely introduced that system.

The land rewarded for military merit could be said to be limitless. Within the Eastern Route, a single military household could only own fifty

mu of land, and an officer one hundred mu. But beyond the frontier, if one possessed military merit, the rewarded land could

eventually reach several thousand mu, even tens of thousands of mu — just thinking about it made one’s heart stir. Although all this land was subject to tax

In the end it would reach several thousand mu, even tens of thousands of mu — just thinking about it made one's heart stir, though all this land would have to be taxed by the mu.

Chen Sheng was of course stirred. He, too, often thought that if one day his great vengeance was achieved, and he then

owned a vast estate and a huge pasture beyond the frontier, life would be truly wonderful.

Chen Sheng was now just an ordinary matchlock soldier; such beautiful prospects could only be imagined for now.

Of course, Chen Sheng was confident he could reach this goal. He himself had the academic background of a Licentiate candidate, giving him an advantage

over many new recruits. He also had a foundation in martial arts — he knew hand-to-hand combat and how to shoot a gun.

After entering the Shunxiang Army, he trained assiduously and was now considered a sharpshooter in his unit. As long as he earned

military merit, he would certainly be promoted quickly.

At the crenellation beside Chen Sheng stood his good friend Ju Yiwu. Ju Yiwu was a delicate-looking young

man. Because he was often expressionless and stern in demeanor, he had earned the nickname “Cold-Faced Ju” within the squad.

Ju Yiwu went all day without uttering a word and rarely spoke to others about his own affairs. Only Chen Sheng knew

that his family, too, had been slaughtered by the Tatars. He harbored a bone-deep hatred for the Tatars, and all he thought about day and night was

revenge. That was why this Liaodong craftsman, though skilled at making firearms, had not entered the military workshop but instead joined

He said his family had likewise been slaughtered to the last by the Tatars, so he bore a bone-deep hatred for the Tatars and thought of nothing else all day.

Like Chen Sheng, Ju Yiwu was also a sharpshooter. Two equally taciturn men, they were

rare and intimate bosom friends.

At this moment, both were using breech-loading Lumi muskets. Within the Shunxiang Army, each Company Commander was allocated

over a hundred Lumi muskets, distributed to some of the unit’s sharpshooters for use.

Regarding breech-loading guns, that is, self-igniting muskets, the Shunxiang Army had long summarized the rules for their use.

The misfire rate was high, so they could not be used in formation field battles. However, they could be widely used in defending cities and walls, because

there was ample time to pull the trigger again.

The misfire rate was high, so they could not be used in formation field battles, but they could be widely used in city and wall defense, because—

there was ample time to pull the trigger again.

If they were to fight in open-field formation, Chen Sheng and the others would also be holding firelocks, so he would effectively have two guns.

Those starving soldiers of the Chuang army still charged forward with frenzied roars, and one could see their twisted, savage faces.

faces.

Fifty paces!

"Fire!"

The deafening roar of matchlocks erupted, and a great swath of the charging, starving Chuang soldiers collapsed.

Chen Sheng had aimed at a man in the Chuang army crowd who looked like a picket officer urging them on, wearing a white felt

hat and a breastplate over his body, brandishing a waist saber and shouting wildly. Chen Sheng pulled the trigger, and his flintlock Lu

mi gun spat out a fierce flash of fire; a long arrow of blood shot out from the Chuang army picket officer's chest.

Although this picket officer wore a breastplate — that is, a chest guard — it was the kind of cotton

armor without embedded iron plates. Even the double-layered heavy armor of the Qing soldiers could not stop the Shunxiang army's firelocks, let alone this simple cotton

armor.

The picket officer staggered backward and fell, clutching his wound as he tumbled to the ground; he did not die immediately,

but cried out loudly.

After firing, Chen Sheng immediately retreated, yielding his position to the matchlock soldiers behind him.

On this front section of the rampart wall, two hundred Shunxiang army matchlock soldiers were defending, arranged in four ranks, forming

a continuous stream of firepower.